bushcaddy105

No matter what procedures, airspaces or surveillance equipment on board, pilots make mistakes. Some years ago an A320 RPT flew underneath me on a straight-in arrival when I was in the circuit area and about to descend to circuit height. I estimated 400 ft. separation; they reported 300. To their credit, they admitted to ATSB that their inbound calls were on the PAL frequency - at 0930 hrs.

Another freight example - I ordered a $23 parking brake cable from India for my old Suzuki Sierra ute (actually an Indian-made Maruti under the badge). Free postage included, expected delivery about 4 weeks. It arrived here in country SA 7 days later. Go figure!

Only old-style mechanical injection diesels, and even then not always. For example, I still drive an RA Rodeo (2004) with a mechanically injected 3 litre diesel. It has a throttle with a throttle position sensor and also an air mass sensor, just like petrol injection. The mechanical injection pump has the rack controlled by an ECU and servomotor. Shortly after Isuzu went to common rail electronic injection so a completely different setup.

If all else fails, I have an assortment of used EA81 valves and can help. Postage could be an issue as I am in South Australia. If needed, email me with the measured diameter of the valve head. Also be aware that the metallurgy changed in 1986 with the introduction of unleaded petrol in Australia. These later valves (EA81's were sold in Brumby utes in Oz up to about 1994) are better quality.

I wonder what Ayres Rock charges these days? No mention in Avdata, and no landing fees listed in ERSA. When I landed there in June 2014 the airport LandCruiser wagon with the flashing lights pulled up before I had even put feet on the ground. Out came the clipboard and all personal details taken, including credit card details. My passenger and I went in to the terminal for a comfort stop and a coffee and on returning had to 'phone the wagon driver so that he could come back and unlock the gate to the parking area. No un-escorted pilot access allowed! We then flew the prescribed scenic route and landed again, fuelled up and went back to the terminal for lunch. Same routine again. About 3 weeks after returning home the 2 landing fees appeared on my credit card statement - $40.00 each landing, and this was 7 years ago. I'm not complaining, as the experience was one of those once-in-a-lifetime events and was well worth the expense for the satisfaction of being able to DIY the flight.

I should have also mentioned- the council annually leases the sizable croppable area (ex WW2 airfield) to a local farmer and also leases hangar space in the one remaining Bellman hangar, thus providing off-setting income towards operating costs.

My home base airport, Port Pirie SA, is owned and operated by the Port Pirie Regional Council. Their policy is NOT to charge landing fees and to welcome visiting aviators who are most likely to stay overnight when on an East-West trip or return. The Port Pirie Flying Group operates the card swipe fuel facility (Avgas and Avtur) with prices pegged to Adelaide and also stocks the pilot's lounge with snacks, drinks, etc. with the proceeds going to local charities. One motel in town provides a free courtesy pickup and delivery service in to town (5Km away and with meals to die for), or local flyers will willingly offer a ride if present. The ARO and caretaker lives on site. Everyone concerned is happy!!! Avdata doesn't get a look-in. Is there a better model for airport operators to follow? Please share our happiness! Port Pirie - the friendly city.

As usually happens, his name popped into my head when not thinking about it. He is (or was?) Pearce Dunn. He came from New Zealand originally and went back there after the Mildura Council wouldn't renew his lease on the old WW2 base site. He apparently sold off all the aircraft and parts. I visited his rather haphazard collection sometime in the late 1990's

What happened to the one that belonged to the bloke who used to have an aviation museum at Mildura airport? His name is in the back of my brain, but won't come forward at present! I recall seeing it at an early Narromine Natfly.

Don’t overthink the issue. My kit-supplied caps for the wing tanks are of CNC machined alloy and have two tiny holes cross-drilled at 90 degrees to each other. Their orientation to the airflow over the wing doesn’t seem to matter and depends on how tight the caps are screwed down. Fuel feed is gravity only in cruise, with a series electric pump used only in climb but shut down on leveling out. Never a problem with fuel feed or loss of fuel from the vents.

Onetrack, While I can't/won't say much about Foxcon, I will take exception to your generalized comments about Subaru engines being " just not up to it". How do I know? - I have worked on and driven Subarus as our family cars since the early 1980's. I also have been flying my 19- aircraft behind a Subaru EA81 for 830 hours over the last 15 years. I elected to power my aircraft with the Subaru rather than Rotax for 2 main reasons:- the early gyro musterers used EA81 engines both as direct drive and with Rotax or Hirth gearbox reduction drives or various toothed belt redrives. They literally thrashed those engines unmercifully, with very few failures. I have rebuilt engines for these gyros. The other reason is that my entire firewall forward installation at the time cost under $5,000, and servicing and maintenance costs are negligible compared to the Rotax. And I chose to use the belt reduction drive made for Foxcon, which if set up correctly and maintained according to schedule has been very reliable. My only penalty for this choice is a 20Kg weight penalty over the Rotax published weights, every item of installation accounted for and weighed in order to calculate W&B for engine mount design. BUT, like any engineering work, the quality of the finished product depends on the quality of the workmanship and of the components used. I did my own conversion of my EA81 after inspecting "commercial" conversions including that done by Foxcon on the Terrier. I did it my way, and have been rewarded by the reliability to date. No oil leaks or excessive consumption, no valve issues, no deficient valve springs, no head gasket leaks. It is the much later EJ25 engines that suffered head gasket issues, usually after overheating from coolant loss due to poor maintenance. I agree with you that the Terrier performance figures are not substantiated - I wouldn't dare to claim 100 HP AND reliability from an EA81 being run at the revs necessary to achieve that output. I estimate about 90 HP maximum and I cruise at 4,200 rpm maximum, closely approximating the engine revs of a 1980's Subaru 4-speed at 110 K/hr. I haven't heard of Foxcon being in business for many years, so I don't know if their is any legacy service outlet.

An excellent quite small and relatively lightweight alternator with inbuilt 14.5 volt regulator (spot on for an Odyssey battery) is the Nippon Denso unit found on old 3-cylinder Daihatsu Charades, Suzuki Sierra's and no doubt many more Japanese origin cars of the 1980's or 1990's. I have used several over the years and they cost $5 at a swap meet. From memory they are rated at 35 amps, more than enough for as much avionics as you can carry. I've never had one fail.

I am eternally grateful that my first 20-something hours of flying instruction were in an Australian Lightwing. From day one it taught me why rudder pedals are so important. "Graduating" to an early Jabiru seemed a backward step at the time, as rudder pedals didn't take on the same importance. Those early hours were responsible for my choosing to build a tailwheeler, a decision I'll never regret after many 100's of landings on many different surfaces. (And yes, I have ground looped as promised!)

Thank you for the reports Sounds like luck was on their side in this incident, but we all know that luck is totally unreliable and good airmanship is a better option. (Or should I have said "airpersonship"?

Just checked in to RF and would like to know what happened. Can someone please post a non-judgemental summary of what the video showed?

Thanks, onetrack

Apologies for the weird layout on the previous post. I kept shrinking the pics to get all the info on screen, but couldn't find a way to delete the extras. Any ideas how nto delete an image before posting? Thanks.

Here's how I set the blades on my 3-blade Bolly. The idea isn't mine - it was given to me way back when I built the BC. The prop hub has an AN 4 bolt projecting forward from its centre to centralize the spinner up near the spinner nose. This bolt was accurately centred in a lathe. The hole in the tool fits over this bolt, a foolproof way of ensuring the same measuring radius for each blade. The square tube sits flat on the front of the prop hub. making each blade adjustment relative to the hub face. It doesn't matter what attitude plane is at. The carpenter's profile gauge is then pushed on to the reference blade to set the cambered profile of the blade front face., and then used to adjust the other 2 blades to match. I have no interest in actual pitch angles, only that they are identical for the 3 blades. Performance in the air tells me which way to adjust, although this has been rarely needed once optimum was achieved early on. This too, is not crude, just purpose made!

Memories of a KFM powered Jabiru! In my logbook is my 2nd dual nav exercise in Jabiru 55-678, a KFM up front. They made about 50 HP as I recall. My task was to fly my CFI (and aircraft owner) from Pt. Pirie to Woomera where he had a couple of students, spend a few hours wandering around Woomera and then return mid-afternoon in about 30 degree heat. I vividly recall being at 2,500 ft. over salt pan country, full throttle and descending at 500fpm. The instructors advice was not to worry, we'll find a thermal soon. As a previous gliding CFI he knew what he was doing and sure enough, we soon ascended back to a respectable height. The KFM's sure worked hard in those early Jabirus, but the ones I knew were soon replaced by Jabi 1600's and then 2200's.

Thanks for your suggestions, all much appreciated. I have a tube of Inox MX6 Foodgrade EP grease which seems ideal. Its fully synthetic, contains Teflon and is recommended for use on rubber. It will only need a smear on the aluminium pegs to allow the shock cord to slide around them as it stretches. Once in place there is no significant further relative movement.

Answer: - much, much more than you would think possible. Several Avalon Airshows ago on the Saturday evening a wind storm went through the row of parked aircraft and inverted many. About 4 aircraft away from mine a Savannah was picked up and dumped inverted about a plane length behind its tied down position. It had 4 tie downs; each wing strut, nose and tail. I helped dismantle it on Sunday morning and one of the strut attachment plate assemblies had been pulled apart in tension. (Not rivets pulling out, but the plates torn apart). A Foxbat close by had been picked up, flown over the top of a Lancair barely touching its prop and then dropped tail down, bending the fuselage into a "J". It, too, had a severed strut attachment plate just below the spar. This plate is from memory about 38 X 6 mm 2021 flat. The break was clean, with no evidence of bending. A Gazelle tied down 1 metre from my left wingtip was flown up and over the nose of my plane, landing inverted over the rope fence in front of the parked aircraft. It did not touch my wing. I'll leave it to you to think about how much instantaneous lift it would have taken in these scenarios. My aircraft was undamaged, the only explanation being that as a taildragger the wing angle of attack is above stall when the tail is down. All other aircraft were nosewheelers and the wings generated lift. Somewhere I have photos of this event which I could scan and post if requested.

Any ideas please on the most suitable lubricant to help fit bungee rings. I'm replacing mine again, and want to make them slide easier around the mounts as they are stretched - no easy task as each ring has a test load of 1160 lbs (527 Kg) and they are doubled up around the mounting pegs. Current thinking is tyre bead mounting paste, but am not sure about its long-term effects on the rubber strands and cotton covering of the rings.

No problem, if the dog's sniff test clears you. She's the boss here after all.

Snap! you have described my lifestyle to perfection. The multiple concurrent projects, the computer hidden amongst all the other info being processed, the several books being read concurrently (always last thing before lights out), the firewood routine - we planted a woodlot of 260 trees back in 1992 to keep us in firewood for space heating and hot water in winter. Old adage:- cut your own firewood and it will warm you twice. It works. We have in the past camped as neighbours at Narromine and Temora, but I don't think we have ever talked. How about a flying trip to my home airport at Pt. Pirie? We'll put you up and are sure to have a conversation starter.

I will read new posts every few days, but refrain from posting unless I have something meaningful to contribute. I have, over the years, gained (and I hope offered) much useful information from the forums (or fora?). I have also been rather peeved by speculation, nitpicking and blatant aggression in posts. I'm still in awe of what Ian has achieved on our behalf despite unfounded criticism at times, and sincerely thank him for his undying efforts. Please keep up your support to keep our contact alive.